Increasingly, consumers are becoming comfortable with a variety of technologies as these technologies are more thoroughly integrated into the daily lives of the consumers. In fact, nearly every teenager and adult is familiar with, can operate, and possesses a smart phone these days.
Another technology area that consumers are embracing more and more is Self-Service (SS) technology. That is, enterprises have invested heavily in SS devices that permit consumers to perform a variety of transactions at a site (such as a retail store) of an enterprise. The investments have come for a variety of reasons, such as cost cutting to reduce onsite staff, reductions in expenses associated with adopting SS technology, increases in consumer throughput and experience while onsite, willingness of the consumer to embrace and use SS technology, and the like.
However, nothing frustrates a consumer more and nothing can destroy consumer loyalty more than poor enterprise service while at a site of an enterprise. In fact, the frustration is not exclusively tied to onsite service, as most consumers will attest to their displeasure with automated call centers where it can take an inordinate amount of time to speak with a real representative of an enterprise who fluently speaks the native tongue of the consumers.
So, although enterprises are integrating more and more SS options within their storefronts, the enterprises are increasing the risk that in-person service availability can substantially impair existing consumer loyalty and sales. This risk is compounded by the fact that enterprises have reduced staff because of the availability of SS options and the staff that does remain is now being asked to multitask and perform a variety of functions for more foot traffic occurring at the enterprise storefronts.
In still other situations, enterprises are setting up automated storefronts to accommodate consumers that like the impersonal nature of transacting or enjoy a perceived time and cost savings associated with using the automated storefronts.
Take for instance an automated bank branch where consumers can enter to execute financial transactions with a bank, and bank staff is made available to unobtrusively support the consumers when help is required. But, the staff cannot readily and efficiently assist the consumers unless the staff has some context as to what the consumers were doing on the Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) before help was requested. So, the consumers must explain in detail what they were doing and perhaps who they are so the staff can assist them properly. This process is also inefficient and frustrating for both the consumers and the staff of the automated bank branch.
It would also be desirable to migrate more bank customers from teller transactions to ATM transactions. However, some customers are not confident in using ATMs, so it would be advantageous to be able to provide these customers with additional help while they use the ATMs.